Building construction



May 14, 1935.

H. ALCOTT' BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 5, 1955 .65 tural framework. of the members In being provided with tongues Patented May 14, 1935. 2,000,897

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Frank H. Alcott, Jamaica, N. Y.

Application January 5, 1933, Serial No. 650,227 r Claims. (01. 20-1) Heretoforc it has been common practice to con- In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view struct the outer walls of frame buildings of -of a novel tongue and groov plank arrangement matched members arranged in clapboard or adapted for use as a wall structure of a buildtongue and groove style, horizontally of the ing; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of an arrangement 5 building. These members have been used prinof tongued and grooved members as customarily 6 cipally as an outer enclosure of the building and assembled; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same have usually been applied outside of sheathing tongued and grooved members but reassembled boards which have been afiixed to the upright or for use as a wall or bearing partition construcstud structure. The tongue and groove contion similar to that shown in perspective in Fig.

struction has, however, generally formed no prac- 4 is a diagrammatic View Of a Portion of 10 x tical part of a supporting structure of the edifice, a building constructed in accordance with the It has also been known that flooring, roofing, principles of the present invention; Fig. 5 is a wainscoting, sheathing, .etc., might be constructfragmentary view of an ordinary floor section; ed of tongued and grooved members in order to and Fig- 6 s a f a ta y V O a flee! obtain a closer and more airtight fit between the tion constructed in accordance with the princi- 15 various constructional elements. This type of ples o t e present iilVentiOn and Comparable construction has likewise been limited to sec in ren h o h t f h 11001 Section Shown ondary 'or accessory structure,-that is, structure n F separate and apart from the structural skeleton AS n eXempie 0f the novel Combination or framework of the building. v bodied in the present invention, the following 20 One reason Why tongue and groove construcconsideration will be given to a wall construction has not been utilized as supporting structure is in which the same may be utilized. probably because of the fact that it has hereto- In ad f n r n a W of the usual fore not been known how a tongue and groove studding sheathed on one or both sides for lateral arrangement might be adapted and utilized sucrigidity, I e (See thick dressed and 25 cessfully to carry out this purpose. matched planks- 10, preferably of standard size It is an object of the present invention to proand form. Each edge of these planks is provided duce composite tongue and groove structure with off-center grooves II and tongues I2, or with adapted not only for use for flooring, roofing, suitable grooves in which splines or keys may wainscoting, sheathing, and other accessory be inserted. Instead of matching these members 30 Structure, but for supporting framework as well, in the ordinary way with their surfaces flush with The invention makes it possible to construct one another, as in Fig. 2, I reverse each alternate buildings of a minimum number of similar prep a k end or end and match the tongues fabricated sections, each composed of a tongued Sp s) into the groove of the adjacent and grooved or similar matched combination and hers. In t s manner a Staggered arrangement 35 without employing additional members for strucsuch as is indicat d in Fi 1 i obtained, giving tural advantage (as, for instance, increased stiifacross section such as is indicated in Fi r ness and bending strength) other than wood or the reason that the increased load-carrying cametal pins, dowels or composite splines and paeityof this structure as a bearing wall or par- 4 dowels of determinate cross-section and number. tition, or as a floor system (as will hereinafter be These combined matched elements thus perform explained) cannot be made entirely to depend a double function of supporting structure and upon the friction and lateral sheer value of the accessory structure. v .tongues (or splines) Within the'grooves, dowels The invention is susceptible of being used with 3, as s own in Figs. 1 and a recessed into the both standard and special types of heavy fiooredges of the matched workings. These are of ing, roofing, decking and similar tongued and a cross-sectionand length and are spaced sufligrooved and/or splined plank or timber memciently close together rigidly to secure the members. ,These members may be arranged inanovel bers together and thus to eifect the continuity manner whereby they are adapted to carry and and resistance to displacement required for the support axial loads vertically as columns. They composite structure in the bearing wall and/or 50 may also be arranged to carry loads horizontally the floor system in which it is to be incorporated. as floor and roof systems. These advantages A sill I4 having a groove l1 may be provided in may be obtained without the necessity of em-' order that the ends of the members may be proploying the items usually essential to the strucvided with a satisfactory foundation, the ends 5 3'7 greater in total thickness than the planks which upon assembly of the various members will be in proper alignment to fit into the groove II. The upper ends of the wall may be provided with a plate 15 suitably rabbeted, and tongued as at 16 so that it may match solidly over the upper ends of the vertical members 10, and into their grooves ll With a construction as indicated above, an increase over-all thickness of from 25 to 37%;% over the net thickness of the ordinary tongue and groove construction isobtained and the section modulus of the construction is increased 33 With the staggered construction of the present invention, the same 2" planks when combined as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, form a wall 25% to I =10% biquadratic inches. I

themselves, and consequently that much thicker than a wall constructed of the tongue and groove members associated in the ordinary way as depicted in Fig. 2. The staggered arrangement effects a compound section with its neutral axis coincident with thegauge line of the off-center tongues and grooves. For instance, as indicated in Fig. 3, the outer sides of theplanks ID will be equidistant from the neutral axis yy and the total thickness of the wall will be twice the greatest distance between the axis and the outer edge of each plank. Thus, when sheathing is placed on the outside of the composite structure and the inside if sheathed and/or lathed and plastered, the total thickness of the wall is considerably thicker than could be obtained from similar construction in which the outer faces of the planks are flush and in the same plane.

In order that the moment of inertia of the above construction may be compared with that of the ordinary construction previously computed, thefollowing computation is given. By

recognized principles of mechanics, it is a fact that the moment of inertia of any compound section with respect to any axis is equal to the sum of the moments of inertia of its several sections plus the area of these sections multiplied by the square of the distance between their respective centers of gravity and the neutral axis-0f the whole figure. Thus, 21c is equal to I0 is equal to the moment of inertia of the composite figure,

I1 is equal to the moment of inertia of one component part;

I2 is equal to the moment of inertia of the other component part,

A1 is equal to the area of the section of th first component part,

A2 is equal to the area of the section of the second component part;

71. is equal to the distance between the neutral axis and the centers of gravity of the areas A1 and A2, which in the example is the same in each case. For tongued and grooved planks of the form and dimensions described, this distance may be Substituting the known values in the above formula, We have 4 whence In is equal to 15.16 biquadratic inches.

It is apparent, therefore, that the moment of inertia of my novel wall construction, shown in Figs. 1 and 3, is 15.16 biquadratic inches as compared with that of 10.66 for a wall construction depicted inFig. 2 made up by the normal fitting together of tongued and grooved members. This amounts to an increase of 4.50 biquadratic inches increased strength. It is apparent also that with greater thicknesses of material, with greater offsets or with narrower planks, even greater increases in the moment of inertia may be obtained.

The invention may also be used in floor or roof structures. For floor structure a composite or built-up arrangement may be utilized by using relatively smaller beam members in order to interlock with and support the floor planking, which latteris advantageously constructed in tongue and groove-or other matched fashion. Referring I to Figs. 5 and 6, wherein illustrative measurements'of the members are indicated, Fig. 5 shows an ordinary floor construction made up of 2" x 10" joists 20 on which sheathing boards -2| are laid. In Fig. 6 I have shown 3" x 7" beam members 22 of considerablyless depth, into which 2" x 7 planks 23 are framed, the planks 23 being parallel to and flush with the tops of the beams 22.

In the case of Fig. 5, the moment of inertia may be easily calculated:

z o r-* 2 10 I- 12 12 166.6

and S, its section modulus is In Fig. 6, however, the moment of inertia is a combination of that of its several parts about a modified neutral axis z-z. By taking moments about a line w--w through the bottom edge of the beam 22, which is taken as a 3" x 7" member, the

distance C1, between this neutral axis and the line ww may be found to be From the above it may be seen that the moment of inertia about the neutral axis s-z, 4.875 inches above and parallel to the line 10-10 is Thus, the novel floor construction of the invention enables a composite structure to be made WhatIclaimis:

which has a considerably greater section modulus than that of the ordinary construction for the same depth flooring. In addition, the flooring construction described, like the wall construction previously alluded to, may be made in the factory and delivered on the Job in built-up units adapted to be fitted together with facility. Compared V with the ordinary construction which comprises a foundation 3|. Over the first group of sections 32, the metal anchor plate 33 may be fitted, or a wood plate H, as shown previously in Fig. 1, the

- section "being preferably of a length equal to the height of one story of the building. The next group of sections 1?" may be arranged upon the plate 33. Floor systems, as in Fig. 6, be utilized or ordinary joisted floors may be used.

1. A building construction comprising a plurality of similar interlocking plank tongues and grooves on opposite longitudinal edges of said plank members adapted and arranged to match and lit the respective grooves and tongues of each similar adjacent member, said tongues. and grooves being uniformly offset from a plane described through the middle of the edge portions of each plank, each alternate plank being reversed end for end so that the faces of adjacent members are out of alignment, and means extending through said longitudinal edges rigidly connecting said members together.

2. A building construction comprising a plurality of similar matched plank members, uniformly offset matching means on the longitudinal edges of each member, each of said members being rigidly connected with its adjacent members and assembled so that each alternate plank is oifset laterally from a planethrough the center lines of said matching means.

-3. A composite structure comprising a plurality of similar plank members each provided with tongues along one longitudinal edge and corresponding grooves along the other, said tongues and grooves being spaced a uniform distance away from a plane passing through the middle of said edges, the center of gravity of each-adjacent plank being on opposite sides of a plane through the center lines of the said tongue and grooves. and means for securing adjacent members rigidly with one another. 7

4. A building construction comprising a plurality of similar'side and end matched interlocking plank members, workings on opposite longitudinal edges of said plank members adapted and arranged to match and fit one with another, said workings being uniformly ofl'set from a plane described through the middle of the edge portions of each plank, each alternate plank being reversed end for end sothat the faces of adjacent members are out of alignment, and means for securing each Plank rigidly to its adjacent plank.

5. A building. construction comprising a plurality of interlocking plank members, uniformly oflset tongues and grooveson the longitudinal edges of each member, connecting means extending through said edges, and holding said members innon-sllpping-relationship, said'members being led so that each alternate plank is offset laterally from .a. plane through the center lines ofsaidtonguesandgrooves. Q

- a. FRANK H. AICOTT. 

